Originally Posted By: Seijirou
Originally Posted By: FiremarshalRob
I read all these posts and all I can do is CRINGE! I, VERY UNFORTUNATELY, was the owner of a 2006 6.0L PSD. I had every problem known to man with this thing.
Oil cooler went out, EGR cooler went out, blew the headgaskets, terrible cold morning starts when it got down into the 40's, several computer re-flashes.
I simply could not keep the JUNK out of the shop. Paid more $100 deductibles than I could keep track of. Finally I let her go and MY GOD am I glad I did. I was desperate to get my 2001 5.4L triton F150 back that only hiccuped on me once, and that was my #4 coil pack which was an easy, quick fix. I unfortunately sold it to my wife's grandfather, and couldn't buy it back.
I was honestly BLESSED when I stumbled across my 2002 7.3L PSD with 41k miles. It only stayed on the lot 2 days and I just got lucky. I got 15k my worthless 6.0L with 96k miles on it(God bless the poor soul who bought it, if anyone did) and paid 19,200 for the 2002 black supercrew 7.3L Lariat that came with Firestone Ride Rite bags, an extra 40 gallon diesel tank, 5th wheel rails, and the full system for trailer brakes.
Regarding the 6.0L, I had a coolant filter, used ONLY motorcraft fuel and oil filters, Motorcraft 15w-40, but I could not afford the full EGR delete and ARP stud job, which is nearly a necessity. I treated her right and only pulled a handful of times with it.
I can hear the sound of a 6.0L a mile away. That old familiar clatter. Sounds much different than the 7.3L PSD and the 5.9 cummins. When I hear it, I automatically think back to that HUNK OF GARBAGE i owned, and I feel sorry for the poor soul who owns it.
I don't care if you make it "bulletproof" by doing a full EGR delete, ARP aftermarket high tensile strength head studs, coolant filter, etc, it is still a piece of garbage. And NO TRUCK should have to have 3-4 THOUSAND dollars worth of work done to it to make it a decent reliable truck.
However, I do miss (barely) the extra power of the 6.0L, and the turbo whistle.
My best advice is to get rid of it! Or if you can't, go ahead and drop the necessary funds on a FULL EGR delete and the ARP studs.
BTW, Motorcraft 15w-40 should be fine for the summer, and Rotella T6 for the winter.
Sorry about the bad experience, but I can see the problem. This 6.0 was driven gently and many owners were under impression that they were doing the engine a favor. On the contrary it's the engines that are babied that have problems.
This isn't to say Ford isn't without blame. Ford tuned the engines hotter than International did which made it drive around fine as a street vehicle without much throttle. Find a basket case 6.0 and the story is almost always "I didn't drive it hard and rarely or never towed anything with it" and the owner doesn't understand why it's failing. On the flip side medium and heavy duty international equipment and school buses didn't have the rate of problems that the Ford light duty trucks did (yes even an F450 is still a light duty truck at GVWR 14,000; the International 4200 is a medium duty truck GVWR 26,000 - 31,000 by comparison) but the engines in those International were pedal to the floor constantly and average 375,000 miles before overhaul.
Ford also put [censored] coolant in these engines and that coolant caused a lot of problems, particularly with the oil cooler which would then have a cascading effect of nuking the EGR cooler followed by the headgaskets.
Studs are not required for reliability, and neither is oil or egr cooler replacement if the engine is run under high load regularly and good coolant is used and maintained. If the vehicle is really a no/low load mall crawler or highway cruiser that's when I'd suggest a bulletproofed/deleted EGR and a high flow (less efficient) oil cooler or redesigned oil cooler. If you're going to take power beyond stock then studs are recommended but power and reliability have always been on opposite ends of the table.
This is spot on! The 6.0 wasn't a bad motor at all IF it gets worked!!! Too many wannabe cowboys bought these things and drove them to the mall and daily commuted with them is what caused most of the issues! Do the EGR delete (never should've been on a diesel anyway) put the good Coolant in them (ELC CAT rated stuff) and work the truck like it was meant to be! I had a ford tech tell me years ago with our company truck (a 2006 F350) to drive it like you stole it a couple times a month and it wouldn't have near the issues most people see.
Great motors, yea they had their issues but find a diesel from anyone else that didn't...